Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic Andalgalá, Catamarca Province, Argentina · 2026

Argentina: priest convicted of sexually abusing a boy over a decade earlier, sentenced after a trial delayed ten years

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

José Renato Rasgido (Father Rasgido), Roman Catholic priest, Andalgalá, Catamarca Province

Organization

Roman Catholic Church, Andalgalá, Catamarca

Spiritual nexus

Rasgido's access to the child ran through his position as the community's Catholic priest, and the court itself treated his status as a minister of religion as an aggravating element of each count — the clerical office is written directly into the conviction, not merely background context.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · conviction

    Cámara en lo Criminal N°2 de Catamarca (Criminal Chamber No. 2 of Catamarca), Argentina. Judges Miguel Ángel Lozano Gilyam, Silvio Martoccia and Mauricio Navarro Foressi unanimously convicted José Renato Rasgido of two counts of aggravated simple sexual abuse and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse with carnal access (violación), the aggravation in each count being his status as a minister of a legally recognized cult, and sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment. The victim, abused at age 12, said publicly after the verdict that he hoped it would bring relief to other survivors of Rasgido's abuse who had not come forward. The verdict followed a trial that itself took ten years to reach court from the original complaint. Rasgido began serving the sentence but was later granted an exceptional precautionary measure of provisional home detention, conditioned on discharge from a sanatorium where he was hospitalized; press reporting noted he was to serve home detention at a church-affiliated residence, drawing public criticism.

Appellate history

  1. 2026

    The conviction became final. A penal-execution judge later granted Rasgido provisional home detention pending health treatment, which drew public repudiation given reports he would serve it at a church property.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • his standing as an ordained minister of a legally recognized religion, an aggravating factor the court applied to each count
  • access to the victim, who was 12 years old at the time of the abuse, through his clerical role in the community

Primary record

Sources

regional newspaper court reporting court reporting El Ancasti, 'Quedó firme la sentencia por abuso sexual para el cura José Renato Rasgido' (in Spanish).

Confirms the sentence became final; paper of record for Catamarca province.

national newspaper court reporting court reporting La Izquierda Diario, 'Catamarca: cura condenado a 15 años de prisión por abuso sexual' (in Spanish).

Reports the three-judge panel, the specific counts and their religious-minister aggravation, the 15-year sentence, and the ten-year delay from complaint to trial.

regional newspaper court reporting court reporting Inforama, 'El cura Rasgido, condenado por abuso sexual, cumplirá prisión domiciliara en una Iglesia' (in Spanish).

Reports the later grant of home detention at a church property and resulting public criticism.

Related record

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